Set 5 update

Sept 1

We decide to move down the canal and forego Niagara Falls. We move 18 statute miles to our first lock, number 35 at Lockport. This is a flight lock of 2 going down. From here we run the gantlet of 15 foot clearance bridges. While we have very few locks on this run today we do have a lot of lift bridges.

 

 

 

Town of Spencerport our first stop on the western end of the Erie Canal. This is one of a series of lift bridges that move straight up via hydraulic lifts on both ends. At first it was really novel but after 15 of them oh well.
 We call the bridge tender as we approach the 1000 foot mark and ask for a lift. Normally you only wait a few minutes unless the bridge tender is running 2-3 bridges then you pray the traffic is light so you are the top priority and are the lead boat through. We are running east and we have yet to see a boat.

We have 15 lift bridges today. We will run 56 nautical miles, 15 lift bridges and 2 locks on our way to Spencerville. We have a free dock, electric, and water at Spencerville.

The western towns prior to Oneida Lake have taken State and Federal matching funds to build up their water front area to bring boats into the towns. Free is the answer so we can chose any of a dozen towns in this first ½ of the canal to stop at.

The funds were also used to make running, walking and bicycle paths next to the canals. Today we see more bikes and runners than we see boats.

The dug canal with bike and walking, and running paths in the left. We run miles and miles of this on the Western end and see a lot of users on the paths.
We are mainly in farm country today with corn, beans, vineyards, and orchards our main scenery.

The towns vary from2000 to 12000 in population. The larger towns have some industry still working while the balance are working on the tourist trade.

We see a lot of canal boats tied up as we move through the towns. These are rentals for the most part and are 35-40 foot long with single inboard engines.

 

Sept 2

We get a 6:30 am start today heading as far as the weather will allow. Major thunderstorms are forecast from noon on, so we plan accordingly. We run into more locks today and they were all down locks. We are being lowered 20 or so feet down in each lock. We run 37.5 NM with 6 locks and 1 Lift Bridge and stop at Lyons just before the rain really started. We got some heavy rain but missed the hail and high winds.

We saw one boat on the trip today moving west and none are in the locks but us. We feel like we are the only boat moving on the water.

 The canal changed today from one that was dug to one that was blasted through limestone formations. Same depth of 8-12 feet, but a bit narrower in spots. Just like the rest of the trip today we are the only boat docked in Lyons.

The look we see out of the command bridge. Limestone and trees.

Sept 3

We leave at 6:30 a.m., heading to lock 26.  Light mist covers the water and makes seeing a little difficult. It is not quite a fog but it could get there quickly.

 

We put sweat shirts on and open the front screen so we can stay in the canal. We beat the lock master as we arrived at 5 minutes till 8. The locks are now opening at 7a.m., we were told, but our man did not make it until 8. We tied off for the few minutes it took for him to open. We do not see another boat all day going either direction until we reach Brewerton.

 

                                                              Lock 33

The canal changes but does not change. While not actually boring it becomes somewhat monotonous when you run 20-30 miles between locks. From Lyons we run 58.4 nm, and 3 locks to Ess Kay yards for the night. We need fuel and a pump out. We meet two couples who spend their summers on the canal traveling back and forth over the state of New York lakes and canals before leaving the boat and going home for the winter. One has a dinghy lift we really like made by Sea Wise of Canada. It is like a Weaver system but the engine stays on and the lift is electrical. I forgot to get a picture but the website is seawisedavits.com.

We did not get in and fueled until 4 pm so we do not have a lot of time to get ready for the run tomorrow, but since it is only 30 miles it is not a big deal.

We see a nice Kady Krogen 42 at Ess Kay from the mid 1980’s, NICE, send money.

 

                          Erie Canal Tugs, barges, cranes and dredges siting at dock.

 

Guard Gate- they lower the 2 panels to reduce the flow of water going down the canal

a series of pictures trying to show the 15 foot clearance effect on the boat rider as they pass under a steel RR bridge.

We have about 1.5 foot of clearance over our solar panels.

 

 

 

Sept 4 

I get up a little later at 5:30 a.m. and turn on the TV, check the weather on the internet, free internet at Ess kay and it works. I thought I would check the Remington museum hours so we could plan our day Friday and Saturday in Ilion. It was a good thing I did as the museum is not open on weekends. We need to move as we now need to cover 54 nm and 4 locks to get in to Ilion Thursday evening.

I get Alice up and we move out at 7:45 a.m... Nice day and an easy run across Oneida Lake to Sylvan Beach. The run across is 2.5 hours and a few miles to lock 22. The wall here is over 2000 foot long for boats to tie up to. This spring we filled the wall with over 30 boats going north, now we see 2 boats heading west.

WE have an uneventful run to Ilion, except for the increase in debris in the river. At Sylvan Beach the river the Erie follows changes to the Mohawk River. 

 

 

 

 The level of tree limbs increases at least 3 fold. I do not know why. In addition the lock breakdowns increase

Guard gate with one half closed keeping boaters from dam on the right.

I asked the navigator which side I was to follow and was told the one I could see through.

. We just received a notice from NYC that in one week the water level between lock 11-12 will drop 4 feet for several days. That means the East Erie is shut down until the water rises. We hope to be gone.

 

Sept 5

We walk the town of Ilion today on our way to the Remington museum. Not much here. The major employer of course is Remington Arms. The museum was nice showing a progression from the first gun to the Remington 1100 Shot gun. Rifles, pistols, typewriters, and bicycles from days of old. It is not a big building and 1.5 hours covers the lot unless you read every gun write up. They have a nice store where items are priced reasonably and even have sales going on.

We do not know what we will do tomorrow. Rain and thunderstorms are forecast but we have seen those forecasts still let us move all day before. We only have 2 more days on the canal until we hit Waterford and the last major federal lock at Albany.